Good Words From the Good Book
This year marks the four hundredth anniversary of the completion and
printing of the most famous translation of the Bible, the King James version.
James I, who fancied himself a scholar and theologian, decided to assure
his immortality by sponsoring a new Bible worthy of the splendor of his
kingdom. To this end, James appointed a commission of fifty-four learned
clerical and lay scholars, divided into three groups in Cambridge, Westminster,
and Oxford. Seven years of loving labor, 1604- 1611, produced what John
Livingston Lowes called "the noblest monument of English prose."
Few readers would dissent from that verdict.
While the spiritual values of the Bible are almost universally recognized,
the enduring effect of the Bible on the English language is often overlooked.
The fact is, though, that a great number of biblical words, references,
and expressions have become part of our everyday speech, so that even
people who don't read the Bible carry its text on their tongues.
Here are ten biblically inspired words, each of which you are asked to
identify. Answers immediately follow the quiz.
1. In ancient times, a _______ was a unit of weight, and this weight of
silver or gold constituted a monetary unit, one that figures prominently
in a famous parable of Jesus: "For the kingdom of heaven is as a
man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered
unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five _______s, to another two,
and to another one; to every man according to his several ability."
(Matthew 25:14-15)
The most common modern meaning of the word _______–some special,
often God-given ability or aptitude–is a figurative development
from the parable.
2. An obstacle: "Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a _______
before the blind, but shalt fear thy God." (Leviticus 19:14)
3. A special celebration: "And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year,
and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants
thereof: it shall be a _______ unto you." (Leviticus 25:10)
4. "Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he
appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.
And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and
wept." (Mark 16:9-10) Mary Magdalene became a favorite subject of
medieval and Renaissance painters, who traditionally depicted her as weeping.
The tearful Mary was portrayed so sentimentally that, over the years,
her name has been transformed into the word _______, which has come to
mean "tearfully sentimental."
5. A final, decisive battle, marked by overwhelming slaughter: "And
he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue _______
. . . And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was
a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so
mighty an earthquake, and so great." (Revelation 16:16,18)
6. Anything of enormous size: "Behold now _______, which I made with
thee. . . Behold, he drinketh up a river and hasteth not: he trusteth
that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth." (Job 40:15, 23).
7. Anything of enormous size: "In that day the Lord with his sore
and great and strong sword shall punish _______ the piercing serpent,
even _______ that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is
in the sea." (Isaiah 27:1)
8. "How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! How
is she become as a widow! She that was great among the nations, and princess
among the provinces, how is she become tributary!"
This is a typically dark passage in one of the prophetic books, from which
we derive the word _______, meaning a sorrowful tirade, extended lament,
or bitter denunciation.
9. "Then the Lord of the _______ gathered them together for to offer
a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice." (Judges
16:23)
Because the nation described above were an alien, non-Semitic people who
worshiped strange gods, their name became a term for a foreigner. Nineteenth-century
philosophers, such as Thomas Carlyle and Matthew Arnold, further changed
the meaning of the word so that today _______ is a derogatory term for
one who shuns intellectual and cultural activities.
10. In Judges 12:5-6, we learn about a conflict between the peoples of
Gilead and Ephraim: "And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan
before the Ephraimites; and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which
were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him,
Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay; then they said unto him, Say
now _______" (Judges 12:5-6).
Because the Ephraimites didn't have the sh sound in their language, they
could not pronounce the word correctly, and 42,000 of them were slain.
That's how the word _______ has acquired the meaning that it has today:
a password, catchword, or slogan that distinguishes one group from the
other.
Answers
1. talent 2. stumbling block 3. jubilee 4. maudlin 5. armageddon 6. behemoth
7. leviathan 8. jeremiad 9. philistine 10. shibboleth
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Holy Moses! Biblical Phrases
Four hundred years ago, in 1611, the most renowned of all biblical translations
was completed and printed. Among the many wonders of the King James Bible
is that it stands as one of the few great accomplishments achieved by
a committee
Another of its amazements is that, along with the works of William Shakespeare,
the King James Bible is the most fruitful source of everyday phrases in
the English speaking world.
Many such expressions are direct borrowings, such as "kingdom come,"
in Matthew 6:10, and "the eleventh hour," from Matthew's version
of Jesus's parable of the workers in the vineyard who gained employment
so late in the day (Matthew 20:6).
Others have entered our modern idiom in a slightly revised form, as "crystal
clear" (from "clear as crystal" in Revelation 22:1) and
"by the skin of my teeth." The latter echoes Job's lament in
Job 19:20: "My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am
escaped with the skin of my teeth" ("by the skin of my teeth"
in the Revised Standard Version). "But teeth don't have any skin,"
you protest. In the biblical phrase, the "skin" refers to a
margin of safety as thin as the enamel on the teeth.
In the Song of Solomon 7:4, the beloved is told, "Thy neck is as
a tower of ivory." From this comparison derives the modern cliché
"an ivory tower," which picks up the sense of beauty, loftiness,
and unassailability implied by the original words.
Still other expressions are general references to a biblical story, like
"to raise Cain" and "Adam's apple," so called because
many men, but few women, exhibit a bulge of laryngeal cartilage in front
of their throats. According to male-dominated folklore, Eve swallowed
her apple without care or residue, while a chunk of the fruit stuck in
the throat of the innocent and misled Adam.
Here, listed in the order they occur in the King James Bible, are 50 biblical
turns of phrase that have survived the centuries pretty much unscathed.
Complete each item. Answers appear right after the quiz.
1. Saw the ______ (Genesis 1:4)
2. My brother's _______ (Genesis 4:9)
3. Sold his _______ for a mess of _______ (Genesis 25:33-34)
4. The _______ of the land (Genesis 45:18)
5. A land flowing with _______ and _______ (Exodus 3:17)
6. Man doth not live by _______ alone (Deuteronomy 8:3)
7. The _______ of his eye (Deuteronomy 32:10)
8. A hair's _______ (Judges 20:16)
9. A man after his own _______ (I Samuel 13:14)
10. Played the ____ (I Samuel 26:21)
11. A still small _______ (I Kings 19:12)
12. Weeping and _______ (Esther 4:3)
13. Give up the _______ (Job 3:11)
14. In the land of the _______ (Job 28:13)
15. Out of the mouths of _______ (Psalms 8:2)
16. His heart's _______ (Psalms 10:3)
17. At their wit's _______ (Psalms 107:27)
18. Labor in _______ (Psalms 127:1)
19. Out of the _______ (Psalms 130:1)
20. Pride goeth. . . before a _______ (Proverbs 16:18)
21. Vanity of _______ (Ecclesiastes 1:2)
22. There is nothing new under the ____ (Ecclesiastes 1:9)
23. Eat, drink, and be _______ (Ecclesiastes 8:15)
24. As white as _______ (Isaiah: 1:18)
25. They shall beat their ______ into ______ (Isaiah 2:4)
26. Woe is _______! (Isaiah 6:5)
27. See eye to _______ (Isaiah 52:8)
28. Holier than _______ (Isaiah 65:5)
29. Weighed in the _______ (Daniel 5:27)
30. Salt of the _______ (Matthew 5:13)
31. Good for _______ (Matthew 5:13)
32. An eye for an ___, and a tooth for a __ (Matthew 5:38)
33. Pearls before _______ (Matthew 7:6)
34. House _______ against itself (Matthew 12:25)
35. Fell by the _______ (Matthew 13:4)
36. Signs of the _______ (Matthew 16:3)
37. A den of _______ (Matthew 21:13)
38. Blood _______ (Matthew 27:6)
39. In his right _______ (Mark 5:15)
40. Physician, _______ thyself (Luke 4:23)
41. A law unto _______ (Romans 2:14)
42. The powers that _______ (Romans 13:1)
43. It is high _______ (Romans 13:11)
44. In the twinkling of an _______ (I Corinthians 15:52)
45. A _______ in the flesh (II Corinthians 12:7)
46. Labor of _______ (I Thessalonians 1:3)
47. The root of all _______ (I Timothy 6:10)
48. Keep the _____ (II Timothy 4:7)
49. Cover a _______ of sins (I Peter 4:8)
50. Bottomless _______ (Revelation 9:1, 20:1)
Answers
1. light 2. keeper 3. birthright, pottage 4. fat 5. milk, honey 6. bread
7. apple 8. breadth 9. heart 10. fool 11. voice 12. wailing 13. ghost
14. living 15. babes 16. desire 17. end 18. vain 19. depths 20. fall 21.
vanities 22. sun 23. merry 24. snow 25. swords, plowshares 26. me 27.
eye 28. thou 29. balances 30. earth 31. nothing 32. eye, tooth 33. swine
34. divided 35. wayside 36. times 37. thieves 38. money 39. mind 40. heal
41. themselves 42. be 43. time 44. eye 45. thorn 46. love 47. evil 48.
faith 49. multitude 50. pit
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